ON THE BUBBLE

robertgraves7

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So your on the bubble of a thousand man tournament and you think all you have to do is wait 1 to 3 hands to get in the money and your in no position of blinding out (35 bb) Do you wait to get in the money or does the bubble not matter cause you want 1st place
I know theres no right answer but any thoughts would be nice.:icon_spid
 
hobonc

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If I catch decent cards I don't play any different but I also avoid gambling when on the bubble.
 
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Trimming1

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I set goals each tourney

Goal#1 Build up when I can to get my chip stack up to survive to the later round. Goal #2 make the cash line. Then go for a higher plaement
 
Propane Goat

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Some books and materials tell you to be more aggressive on the bubble to take advantage of people playing super nitty, however I don't think that means to start 3-bet shoving hands like 74o and taking a bunch of insane risks.

Obviously, if you get dealt AA, you shouldn't be folding this just to get into the bubble, and if somebody wants to shove, you would be making a huge mistake not to call. In a regular MTT, you will have to min-cash a whole bunch of times to break even with busting out before the bubble numerous times combined with one first place finish.
 
nax

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It depends on the table and opps, but generally ppl tighten a lot on the bubble and if you see a weak point you can exploit it.
If you have a decent hand - play it, don't gamble with trash hands.
 
ElmarLCH

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It depends on the table and opps, but generally ppl tighten a lot on the bubble and if you see a weak point you can exploit it.
If you have a decent hand - play it, don't gamble with trash hands.

I agree with this, but I like to add some.

I'd like to play way more hands on the HJ, CO, BTN and SB when hands are unopened. You have to consider how likely it is that the players behind you is gonna call or raise. Look at there stacksizes and how tight/loose they are.
In my opinion you should only play EP/MP when you want to go all-in. Don't try to steal here.
90% of the time there is a raise in front of you, they have atleast 99+, A10+, KJ+.

*EDIT* I'm working on my English =D
And I forgot to tell something. Ask yourself the question, do I need those blinds and antes?
If you are amongst the chipleaders (I think you are with 35bb?) there is no need for taking that much risks. You can tighten some more and try to steal less.
When you are average stacked, you can consider to try my strategy. You'll have a better shot at the top places when you can steal like 4 times. (REMEMBER that the average stacks are often around 20 blinds, so stealing some of them is really making a difference.)
 
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jaworek1405

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So your on the bubble of a thousand man tournament and you think all you have to do is wait 1 to 3 hands to get in the money and your in no position of blinding out (35 bb) Do you wait to get in the money or does the bubble not matter cause you want 1st place
I know theres no right answer but any thoughts would be nice.:icon_spid
If I'm on the bubble, I become more tight player. I don't want to gamble. For me, the most important thing is get in the money. But if I see passive players, for example I'm sitting on CO or dealer, SB and BB are passive, sometimes I try to steal blinds with potential hands. Then if somebody reraise me- I fold.
 
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Thats usually depends of my stack .
if i have a small stack ,, usually i wait cause my chance to chip it is very small so take the money of the itm .
if i have a big stack , attack the table ( specially middle stacks) to grow up .
if i play a big one ( not very often) where i was qualify by satellites , maybbee i wait but also depend of my stack.
 
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I use to play really aggressive with good cards on bubble if I have a big stack , but I avoid investing a lot of money in a pot with bad hands. If I have a low stack I play very tight because I know it's very hard to win the tournament so , at least I win some money.
 
Jostone6

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I think it depends on the stack and the players in the blinds, preferring not to bluff on the streets
 
IntenseHeat

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With 35xBB you should be fine continuing to play your game, unless your game is to ship your stack pre with any Ace. Of course you need to pay attention to where the short stacks at the table are and be aware that as the button approaches the likelihood of them picking a hand to get them in with and shoving rises. As the button nears the short stacks, you might not want to get involved in the hand at all unless you're dealt something that you would be willing to call a 10x shove with. Of course I believe that you should always play to win. However, there is no need to take unnecessary risks when you are that close to cashing. It would be a shame to get so close and fall short of cashing after having invested the time and effort to make it that far.
 
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Arjonius

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Poker is a highly situational game, so my answer is "it depends". If, for example, I'm playing a level of tournament that's normal, and where I expect to be in similar positions repeatedly, I'll raise my aggression somewhat to take advantage of players who tighten up to cash. Otoh, if I've satellited in and am playing far above my usual level where I won't be back very often and where just min-cashing means much more money than winning at my usual level, I'm likely to be one of the people who tightens up.
 
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bubble

the bubble i think it is the phase that you must give a lot of power to gramble a lot of chips to stay in a tour so there with very strong and strong hands you should play very agressive because the most of player at 70 per cent they will fold their hands.
 
muckaveli

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Poker is a highly situational game, so my answer is "it depends". If, for example, I'm playing a level of tournament that's normal, and where I expect to be in similar positions repeatedly, I'll raise my aggression somewhat to take advantage of players who tighten up to cash. Otoh, if I've satellited in and am playing far above my usual level where I won't be back very often and where just min-cashing means much more money than winning at my usual level, I'm likely to be one of the people who tightens up.

Excellent! (in a Mr. Burns voice)

Good stuff here guys...

It depends on the type of tournament...if its satellite or DoN...first place gets the same payout as say fifth and so forth...so no reason to take.a risk on a flip if losing the.flip means busto...IMO

iDONK
 
babydrago9

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Im always going to tighten up when it gets near to the bubble no matter what game it is! But after the bubble bursts I go out to win it not caring how far up the levels I could cash with
 
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... play your game ...
... Poker is a highly situational game, so my answer is "it depends" ...

Your normal game should always be trying to make the most of any situations that can be to your advantage.
Bubble time just adds extra dynamics. Pay more attention to playing styles, those who are so passive they would fold AK or even Aces just to min cash and those who are ultra aggressive just trying to take advantage of the passive opportunity but crazy enough to risk their own chances with any random cards just to pick up a few blinds. Look for the difference between the crazy aggressives and the ones who are trying it on but will back down when challenged.
Consider stack sizes, any short stacks behind are unlikely to call a raise they will either fold or shove, so consider whether you can call their shove before raising in front of them. Any stacks larger than yours could cause you to play for your tournament life, so again consider how best to play them before committing chips, sometimes the bigger stacks are just as afraid of big pots cutting them back down to average and one step away from being out themselves. Some aren't and do get cut down 3 times to bubble themselves.

It's just part of the game which needs to be addressed in it's own way. Early stage, mid stage, bubble, post bubble, final table, heads up, all play differently, all depend on opponent style and to some degree stack size and perhaps even hole cards, flops, turns and rivers.

(coffee break :tee:)
 
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I prefer to steal more....doesn't mean im going all in but just attempt to build your stack up ..people will be folding more and a min cash is bs to me....so you have to try to build your stack...the bubble is one of the best spots for this
 
robertgraves7

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Great info guys. Just looking over everything really drives home the importance of stack sizes in my mind.
 
IntenseHeat

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Poker is a highly situational game, so my answer is "it depends". If, for example, I'm playing a level of tournament that's normal, and where I expect to be in similar positions repeatedly, I'll raise my aggression somewhat to take advantage of players who tighten up to cash. Otoh, if I've satellited in and am playing far above my usual level where I won't be back very often and where just min-cashing means much more money than winning at my usual level, I'm likely to be one of the people who tightens up.

+1
Excellent point.

Your normal game should always be trying to make the most of any situations that can be to your advantage.
Bubble time just adds extra dynamics. Pay more attention to playing styles, those who are so passive they would fold AK or even Aces just to min cash and those who are ultra aggressive just trying to take advantage of the passive opportunity but crazy enough to risk their own chances with any random cards just to pick up a few blinds. Look for the difference between the crazy aggressives and the ones who are trying it on but will back down when challenged.
Consider stack sizes, any short stacks behind are unlikely to call a raise they will either fold or shove, so consider whether you can call their shove before raising in front of them. Any stacks larger than yours could cause you to play for your tournament life, so again consider how best to play them before committing chips, sometimes the bigger stacks are just as afraid of big pots cutting them back down to average and one step away from being out themselves. Some aren't and do get cut down 3 times to bubble themselves.

It's just part of the game which needs to be addressed in it's own way. Early stage, mid stage, bubble, post bubble, final table, heads up, all play differently, all depend on opponent style and to some degree stack size and perhaps even hole cards, flops, turns and rivers.

(coffee break :tee:)

+1
Outstanding answers!

I was nodding off, after having been up all night when I posted my reply to this thread. It was my intention to come back and add another post after I had gotten some sleep. But between these two response, you guys have covered pretty much anything I would have added and then some.
 
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i was taught that poker is about the money, so if you did the work to get to the bubble then it is kinda like free money at that point and you must take it . sure there are blinds that can be picked up by the larger stacks but i have found that after the bubble burst the small stacks that were just hoping to survive will usually give you the rest of their chips with much less than quality hands and you can get more than just their blind.
 
_FISHFEET81_

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clash of clans fans?

any clash fans out here
 
crisbiazus17

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Goal#1 Build up when I can to get my chip stack up to survive to the later round.
 
1ofTheFellas

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It's all about spots... you will run into alot of bubble spots where you can apply lots of pressure on shorter stacks, especially if you are sitting on 35 or so bbs.. this is a great way to continue to chip up.

I definately do not sit back at this stage of a tournament on a healthy chip stack. You should be looking for spots to apply pressure and use your chips to your advantage.
 
Arjonius

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Im always going to tighten up when it gets near to the bubble no matter what game it is! But after the bubble bursts I go out to win it not caring how far up the levels I could cash with
I thought this way for my first year or more. It's not optimal though. You will win more money by cashing *somewhat* less often if you finish high and win a little more often. The additional chips you have due to not tightening up before the bubble will help you to do this.

There's also the factor that if you tighten up before the bubble, you probably also tighten up before pay jumps. So it's not just a matter of playing sub-optimally at one point in the tournament.
 
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The first few places after the bubble will typically just pay for your buy in.

It's the final table, or the top three spaces at the FT is where the real money is.

So I guess it's dependent on how much losing that buy in is worth to you, to a degree, and if it's that painful, maybe a person should question their bankroll management skills. Although this changes a bit too if the person satellited into a big money tourney.
 
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